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Inside the City: St Jamess boss is this years first FTSE scalp

IT has taken just five days of the new year for the first FTSE 250 chief executive to get his marching orders. On Friday the wealth-management firm St James’s Place Capital parted company with Mark Lund, who took over in September 2004.

Both sides say the decision was amicable. There were no rows over strategy, no problems in the business and no disagreements, said the executive chairman, Mike Wilson.

Instead Lund, who is in line for a pay-off of between £3m and £4m including share options, is understood to have lost the confidence of the powerful partners in St James’s Place’s sales force. Analysts say that although he was good at managing the back office, he lacked the charisma to motivate and drive the salesmen.

Coming so soon after the festive break, the timing looks messy. St James’s Place also has no successor lined up.